Saudi Embassy in Cairo: Houthis Violated International Laws by Recruiting Children

Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Cairo issued a statement on Sunday, in which it stressed the Kingdom’s support to Yemen’s legitimate government and its keenness to protect human lives since the early beginning of the Yemeni conflict.

The statement noted that Saudi Arabia has always abided by U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216 and by agreed ceasefire.

It added that on several occasions the Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Adel Al-Jubeir has stressed the Kingdom’s support to the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and to the end of violence in the war-torn country, while highlighting Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself.

“Despite Saudi Arabia’s commitment to the U.N. resolution and to the agreed truce, the Houthi-Saleh group did not respond to such initiative, but used the truce to steal humanitarian aid and intensify their aggressions on the Yemenis and on the Kingdom’s territories,” the statement added.

Houthi and Saleh-aligned militia in Yemen perpetrated 75,382 violations against civilians and public properties in the first half of 2016, according to the statement.

The violations included murder, injury, kidnapping, arrest, assaulting public and private property, collective punishment and recruiting children, the statement said.

During a truce that began in April and later ended, 12,704 violations were registered, the statement said.

It added that during a fourth truce on October 20, the Yemeni Alliance for Human Rights monitored 125 violations perpetrated by Houthi militias and Saleh supporters in eight different Yemeni governorates.

The statement also said that between December 2014 and April 2016, 9,949 cases of arbitrary detentions were registered, in addition to 2,706 cases of arbitrary disappearances. It added that during the same period, 4,689 persons were illegally tortured, and eight of whom died in unclear circumstances.